Jan. 27, 2012
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 18 Missouri broke two Norris Aquatics Center Pool records Friday night during the first session of a three-session, two-day double dual meet. After six total events, Northwestern trails Missouri, 61-49, while leading undefeated Denver, 83-26.
This weekend's meet continues with two sessions tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 28. The first session will begin at 10 a.m. CT while the second gets under at 4 p.m. CT at the Norris Aquatics Center. Live results are available for all sessions of the meet.
Prior to the second session tomorrow, Northwestern will celebrate Senior Day at approximately 3:50 p.m. The first 50 NU students in attendance will receive a coupon for a free Chipotle burrito while one lucky student will win a quarter's supply of free burritos as part of the Northwestern swimming and diving Chipotle BIG GAME.
As the sun set outside and a band of snow began to creep into the area, the action in the pool heated up quickly. No. 18 Missouri won the opening 200 free relay with a pool record and NCAA `B' consideration time of 1:31.67, taking down the old mark of 1:31.92 set by Northwestern's Emily Wong, Teisha Lightbourne, Alex Kraus and Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) in 2009. Northwestern's 2012 team of Tori Larsen (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community), Katie McCullough (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central), Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) and Reynolds placed second in Friday's race with a 1:33.72.
The 500 free featured a three-way race for the top between a pair of Wildcats and a Pioneer. After leading throughout nearly the entire final heat, junior Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) held off a furious rally from her Denver opponent to win in 4:56.10 with a .12 of a second margin of victory. Sophomore Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas/Woodlands College Park) was just .11 of a second out of the runner-up spot in third with a 4:56.33.
Missouri notched its second pool record of the night when Shara Stafford went 1:59.13 to win the 200 IM, breaking a record of 2:01.12 that had stood since 1997 when it was set by Gabrielle Rose of Stanford. That performance led a sweep of the top spots in the event for the Tigers, with Northwestern's Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) leading the Northwestern contingent to the wall in a fifth-place time of 2:05.27. Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) took sixth overall behind Points with a 2:05.61 while senior Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was eighth with a 2:06.24.
Reynolds swam a Northwestern-season-best 23.23 to beat the field in the 50 free, leading a convoy to the wall with an impressive .34 of a second margin of victory. Larsen claimed fourth overall in 23.70 while Hall had a 24.04 to take seventh and McCullough went 24.11 to tie for ninth.
Fresh off a tremendous performance at the German Nationals last weekend, junior Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic) returned to collegiate competition and won the 3-meter springboard against some strong Missouri talent especially. Lenz's 346.10 was her second-best score of the season in the event and gave her a 23.2 point margin of victory. Sophomore Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) took fourth place with a tally of 288.35.
Friday evening concluded with the 400 medley relay, which saw Northwestern place second with a 3:46.03 from the team of Rachel Kim (Federal Way, Wash./Todd Beamer), Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School), Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) and Reynolds.
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